If you've doubted whether there is life beyond the dispensing bench, consider the career of nuclear pharmacist Robert McKenzie, RPh. Pioneering developer of preloaded, patient-specific brachytherapy for prostate cancer. The first pharmacist to use nuclear imaging for assessing the health effects of space on astronauts. A savvy entrepreneur who helped launch the only mail-order radiopharmaceutical wholesaler in the United States. These are just a few of the accomplishments Mr. McKenzie recently shared with Pharmacy Practice News' Elena Beyzarov, PharmD, as part of our ongoing "Profiles in Pharmacy" series.

Pharmacy Practice News: How did you begin to develop an interest in nuclear pharmacy?

 

Mr. McKenzie: I worked in retail pharmacy for nine years, which gave me an excellent education and foundation in business. But I wanted to move on to something a bit different, and so, acting on the advice of a school friend, I decided to join a nuclear pharmaceuticals manufacturer. A nuclear pharmacist at the company helped me develop the confidence I needed to handle nuclear material, and as a result, in 1989 I had the pleasure of working with the first commercial positron emission tomography (PET) cyclotron in the world. These facilities produce radioactive tracers that are used to create images of the human body during PET scan diagnostic procedures. Some of my work at AnazaoHealth, where I am currently V.P. of Nuclear Products, still involves radioactive tracer technology, so this experience was invaluable.

PPN: What prompted your move to AnazaoHealth?

Mr. McKenzie: I wanted to match the business acumen I had developed in retail pharmacy with the incredibly challenging nuclear pharmacy specialty. That's basically how I came to AnazaoHealth, which was formerly known as Custom Care Pharmacy. We're a privately held company that provides a wide range of products in nuclear medicine, brachytherapy and pain management. We're licensed in all 50 states, and our nuclear medicine division offers radiopharmaceutical preparations such as thallium-201, I-131 Mini Caps, indium In-111, ProstaScint [capromab pendetide, Cytogen], Quadramet (samarium-153, Cytogen], and strontium-89.

PPN: What were some of the initial challenges serving this market?

Mr. McKenzie: The first challenge we had to deal with was the lack of quality control when it came to labeling of radiopharmaceuticals. This wasn't just a shortcoming we saw anecdotally; a study published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association (2004;44:30-35) identified several deficiencies in the product labeling for reconstituted radiopharmaceuticals. The deficiencies included inconsistent directions, such as different reconstituted volumes for the same final drug product, and impractical directions, such as unrealistically low reconstituted activity limits. The lesson we took from this was that not everyone with a laminar flow hood and a package insert is able to dive into nuclear medicine distribution. So we developed an expertise in compounding, packaging, labeling and shipping that addressed those deficiencies.